Familiar Faces
by Gekofeet
Summary: Clara is found with two years of her memory gone from her mind. UNIT's scientific research sector tries to help but is left with dealing their own problems within their task force. The Doctor tries to solve their mysteries, but finds his world crashing down around him. Story of Clara, the Doctor and their UNIT friends delving into the mysteries within their memories.
1. Falling

There was a small movement within the rubbles.

The air was still dusty from the recent disaster and orange ambers and cinders were still hanging for their lives. An eerie silence filled the atmosphere, as if everything was muted from the outside world.

Within the ash and layers of cement dust, a small, confused face appeared. She looked around with a hint of frustration and confusion in her pools of brown in her eyes. There was a rattle of bricks and other broken materials as the small hands drowsily pushed it away.

Around her was nothing. Well… almost nothing.

The buildings as far as she could see were completely destroyed. Some people would think that it was a junk yard, if it wasn't for the occasional broken furniture, beds and other materials that told her that there once was someone living here.

She walked for ages.

Everything was the same. Rubbles after rubbles, brick after brick. Then, she saw a small cot, still intact. She looked at the mattress, and saw a blackened ash, presumably the size of a small toddler. She closed her eyes, trying to unsee what she had just seen.

'What happened here?' She thought as she walked along.

Tired of walking, she sat down on what she thought was a rock. She made sure that there were no shadows or ashes on it.

She covered her face and sighed. She was frustrated. What happened here? Where was she?

She paused in horror.

 _Who was she?_

She felt her heart beating faster and faster. She couldn't help but feel as if everything was spinning to an end. She didn't know who she was. Did she have a family? A lover? Friends? What was she doing in this place and why was she alone?

"Hello?"

She flinched in surprise. Her voice was deeper than she thought. Sort of velvety smoothness. Except she felt like she had never heard her voice in her life.

She decided to walk it off. There were two things she could do – she could walk and see if she can find anyone, or stay here and eventually die of starvation and thirst.

She stopped again when the light was getting dimmer. The purple, star-filled sky was beautiful to watch. Except it felt underwhelming at the same time. Somewhere in her mind, something was telling her that there was more to the stars that what she was seeing right now.

That was when she faintly heard a dog barking. She could also hear a murmur from some people. Her face brightened up as she walked towards the sound. Wherever this was, she was looking forward to leave it behind.

"Find her. She couldn't have gotten far. You have a permission to hurt her. The only thing the director wanted was her alive. He didn't tell us how much."

There was a cackle amongst the group.

She ran away. She hoped that they didn't mean her. She realised that perhaps trying to find people wasn't a good idea.

Through the faint starlight, she saw herself in a puddle of muddy water. She slowly traced over her eyes, nose and her mouth. Was this what she really looked like? She made different faces and saw how her faces reacted. Even her face was unfamiliar to her.

She dug herself a bed in the midst of a rubble, and laid down. She must have briefly fallen asleep, because when she woke up, she realised she wasn't where she thought she was. She was hearing screams, but she knew that wherever she was, there was no sound. No birds, no animals, no people, just her.

That's when she started hearing a small patter of footsteps.

"Clara… Clara…"

Clara. That was her name. Clara Oswald. She dug deeper into the rubble, hoping that whoever that was didn't find her. She was scared. What if it was someone who wanted to hurt her?

She held her breath to deaden her sound of breathing. Her stomach growled, and she quickly held it to quieten the noise. She was so thirsty and hungry.

She stayed quiet and still as she heard the footstep passing hers. There was some sort of a sequence of mechanical beeps, which was getting faster as the footstep got closer.

The beeping noise reminded her of the screams. She didn't know whose scream, but it was ringing through her ears. She quickly covered her ears, but in the process, knocked out a broken brick, which dropped with a considerable amount of noise.

"Hello?" The person sounded very young. "Clara, is that you?" the person whispered even more quietly, yet her voice filled with optimism.

Clara didn't have a choice. She felt for a small shard of glass. She sprung up and aimed at the young woman.

The young woman gave out a small scream as she held her hands up high. Instead of looking frightened, she looked happy.

Clara tightened her grip.

"If you don't stay still, I'll drive this through your heart." There was a small pause. Clara realised she had all the information to kill a person inside her mind, but where did that come from?

"Clara, it's okay. Do you remember me?"

"You're my enemy." That slipped out of her naturally. Perhaps she was her enemy.

"No, Clara. I'm not. What happened to you?" She approached closer, and Clara took a step back, keeping her distance.

"One more step, and you'll be begging me to kill you."

"Clara, don't you remember me? It's Osgood."

Clara momentarily lowered the shard. Osgood. It was a familiar word. She was wearing a familiar face as well. _No, stay on guard._ She thought as she raised the shard again.

"I'm unarmed. I can't do anything to you. This is just a small computer. I know you're scared, and you have every right to be. But I promise I'm only here to protect you." Osgood said, slowly taking out everything in her pockets to prove she was unarmed. "We are friends, you and I. Remember Kate? And UNIT?"

Clara clenched her shard. _UNIT._ She shook her head as a voice cried out inside her head.

 _"It's all UNIT's fault. That's why you're in this mess in the first place. UNIT cannot be trusted."_

"UNIT can't be trusted." Clara said, almost monotonously, as if she was a programmed robot.

They both turned around as they heard dogs barking nearby.

"Clara, we don't have time. Please, you have to come with me. It's not safe out here."

"No." She backed away, further and further. Something within her told her to run away. Clara came to a conclusion that she was only a clever ploy to kill her, like those people she had overheard before.

"Clara! Please! Come back!" Osgood had failed. She kneeled on the rubbles in misery. It had been two years looking for Clara… She had the chance just then and she had managed to miss it. Perhaps they were right. Her sister was better fit for the job than she ever was.

Clara finally stopped in exhaustion. She had stopped on the edge of the cliff, looking down a long drop. It was covered in what seemed like muddy water, but she couldn't tell since it was still quite dark. She dropped onto the patch of soft dirt and gathered her breath back. She felt the tears streaming out. She didn't mean to cry. She was sure that she wasn't a weepy person in the past. But this time it was different. She was so scared. Not of the big scary men, not of the encounter, but the fact that she couldn't remember her family, friends and her past.

Clara didn't know how long she'd been here, but when she gathered her senses, she saw a dog curiously looking at her. It was covered in golden and black fur, and it stared at her with its big blue eyes.

She approached it without realising it was hostile. As soon as she reached out, the dog painfully bit her wrist. She cried out in pain, and the dog started barking, and Clara started to run along the cliff. _Tried to._

Soon, the men she had seen before had found her, and the dogs clung onto her to stop her from escaping again.

"No more escapes for you." A man with an evil snide ran through her chin.

Clara tried to avoid the touch. She tried to look brave, but couldn't stop the trembles.

"They said I needed to bring you alive. I plan to do that, but barely. That's my fun to have. I have to admit though, I did have difficulty tracking you down. You're very… slimy." He pulled out something from his pocket. "But never fear, all in a day's work. After all, this is what I get paid for. Hunting Familiars like you."

 _Familiars_. That's what he kept referring Clara as.

The man held Clara down and placed two pills down Clara's throat. Clara coughed and did her best to spit it out, but it was too late.

"Just a bit of sedative, don't worry. It's made of the finest snake venom in this star system."

Clara retched as she felt the poison spread through her body. First it was the headaches, then her vision started disappearing. She tried to latch onto anything as she felt herself plummet into the darkness.

In the midst of Clara's panic, she heard a voice.

"Stop! Let Clara go."

"Or what? You'll shoot me? With what, your wheezy puffer?"

Clara heard a small puff.

There was a muffled dog yelps and a thud.

Clara felt the warmth of a hand. She helplessly grabbed on.

"Hey, Clara. It's okay, You're okay. We'll get you fixed up as soon as we are back. But for now, you have to trust me, okay? It's just going to feel like a roller coaster ride, okay? Here goes."

Clara felt a small push. Then she felt weightless. Then everything came at once. Clara couldn't do anything but whimper. By that stage, the venom had paralysed her limbs and was slowly taking over her hearing.

She heard Osgood once more, except less lively. She sounded like she was trying to hide her pain.

"I'll be back, okay? I know it hurts, just hold on a little longer."

"Osgood! I thought I told you not to leave the base." Clara was just about to make the sentences as her hearing failed.

"I'm sorry sir… found her in an explosion... kidnapped…. Needs a doctor…"

Hearing was finally gone. Clara felt people touching her in places that hurt and felt them lifting her up. She shivered in their touch. Soon after, something warm spread across her body, and she felt asleep, forgetting the nightmarish experience.


	2. Who?

"Diamond beneath the sea."

Clara looked up at a blurry figure.

"As a familiar agent, you have to do your duty. There's diamond beneath the sea, and you're going to do your best to fulfil your mission."

"Understood." Clara automatically said, even in a semi-conscious state.

When Clara was fully awake, she realised her vision was back. She welcomed what she had previously taken for granted. She touched the red blanket that was covering her, then the yellow cup filled with water, and then the pillows in purple and white. She smelled fresh flowers, which was a contrast to the smell of burnt out buildings and dust. Everything was a welcome change, except none of this made her remember who she was.

Her name was Clara Oswald, but what else?

She got out of bed, and walked towards the window with its curtains closed. She felt the silky texture and the warmth of the sun leaking from behind the curtains. She drew it open to see a balcony to a garden. It was luscious green with colours bursting from flowers. In the middle, there was a small, Victorian fountain, quietly letting water out of its holes.

Before she knew it, she was outside, touching the flowers and the cool water. She must have been enjoying herself, because she realised there was someone at the back.

Clara froze instinctively. She started trembling, hoping that whoever this was wasn't someone here to hurt her.

"I'm so glad you're awake. I've missed you, so much." Osgood gave a hug and Clara stiffened.

Clara stared at her in confusion. "Who are you?"

"I'm Osgood, remember?"

"Osgood who?" Clara asked. There was something familiar about that name.

Osgood's shoulders somewhat deflated. But she still continued in a bright, chirpy attitude. "I'm your friend. Have been for quite a while. Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

"What happened yesterday?"

Osgood paused, but just gave her a smile. "It's okay if you don't remember. It'll come back to you later. Everything is just temporary."

"Where am I?" Clara felt bad for asking all these questions, but she had to. She was so confused.

"We're in England now. Currently in a cottage provided to us by UNIT.

"UNIT?" Clara tilted her head in confusion. "What's that?"

"A place we work. Unified Intelligence Task Force."

"Huh." Clara stared at the fountain. She gave up asking more questions, because she had more questions from the answers themselves.

"What do you remember?" Osgood sat next to her. Clara let her, realising that she wasn't a threat. She could see that she was just trying to help.

"Nothing. Everything was black, I couldn't hear anything. And then I was here." She swung her legs almost like a child sitting on a swing.

"Do you remember anything before that?"

Clara paused deeply in thought.

"No."

Osgood gave a small, quick disappointed sigh, but she smiled as she handed her a photo album.

"You can have a look. It's your photos from your past. I'll come back later, okay? I think someone will be bringing you breakfast, if you're hungry."

Clara stared at the photo album that was just handed to her by Osgood.

She flicked to the first page and saw a baby. She closed her eyes, and heard her parents' voice. She didn't remember what their names were, but she remembered their happiness. As she flicked it over and over, she saw the baby growing older. There she was, in a dance class, and then the first day of her school. There even was a photo of her dad pulling faces at the camera with her little self.

She silently laughed. She looked happy in every photos in that album. As she closed the album, she felt a small photo drop to the ground.

She slowly crouched down and looked at in interest. It was a photo of her in a weird… orange spacesuit. There was an old man next to her, and a blue police box in the background.

"TARDIS." The word slipped out. She quickly dropped the photo and backed away. She was having visions.

"Don't let the Doctor see. Stay away from the Doctor. Please." A voice inside of her was begging.

Clara was hyperventilating. Red and purple streaks appeared in her eyes as she felt the air leave her lungs. She heard voices screaming Doctor. She saw herself begging for her life to a mysterious person.

"Clara!"

She heard someone shaking her.

"Clara, snap out of it!"

Clara opened her eyes and saw him. It was the Doctor. When she looked up in silence, he hugged her tightly.

"I can't lose you now, after all the effort we made to bring you back."

Clara stayed silent. She knew he was the Doctor, but she had no idea who he was other than that. Beside her were broken plates containing spilled milk, fruits and pancakes.

"You dropped my breakfast." Clara said after staring at him for a long while.


	3. Flashback

It had been two years since that awful day.

No one could blame Clara for her adventurousness and curiosity, nor UNIT for being incapable to finish a single task. Pudding brains headquarters needed Clara, and Clara being Clara, took the role.

He sighed as he settled on the velvety armchair in the TARDIS console room. He gently closed his eyes shut, and reminisced the old days where her deep pools of beauty looked at him playfully, asking for 'just one more' place to go. Pressing all the wrong buttons on the TARDIS and hoping to see another place.

He let out a small inaudible laugh.

A girl from Blackpool, off to see the beauties of the world. Of course it followed with consequences. Where there's beauty, there was always hatred and ugliness.

When Clara was taken, the Doctor didn't know about it. He still thought he wasn't told the full story of how it had happened. UNIT was scared of him, even though they trusted him. They knew that, and he did too.

He slid his hands down the TARDIS rail and started walking. He needed fresh air. Thinking and sitting by himself was not doing him any good. He opened the TARDIS door to find himself in Lake District. He gazed at a café where he had had tea and scones with his best friend. The setting sun coloured the skies with brilliant colours. Usually, that would cheer him up, but it hadn't for those awful two years.

He sat on the bench, and pulled out a white smartphone. _Clara's phone._ He didn't turn it on, he just gazed at his sad reflection on the black screen.

"I miss you, Clara Oswald."

He looked around. Did he actually say that out loud?

It was almost a confession.

* * *

Like every Wednesday, the Doctor landed on Clara's living room – yet again materialising the coffee table inside the TARDIS. He knew that Clara wasn't always happy when he materialised inside her flat, but he couldn't contain his excitement when he found a new planet to explore. The star system of Spaghetti Bolognaise – with naturally occurring deliciousness. He was expecting Clara to burst into the TARDIS, once again giving him an earful on how she needed some 'personal space', and for a Time Lord, he had the parking abilities of a three year old, but it didn't happen. No one entered, and nothing but the soft whirrs of the TARDIS console room greeted him.

"Clara?" He poked out his head. Maybe Clara forgot? But the Doctor knew she never would. He ran back to the console and checked the monitors. Yep, he was in the right place, right time, plus or minus 3 minutes.

He sat on Clara's bed and waited… and waited even more.

Nothing.

Next, he parked the TARDIS in the caretaker room in Coal Hill School. He ran around trying to find the 5ft 2 enigma, but she wasn't even at school. A he turned a corner, he bumped into the guy with an amazingly disgusting neckwear. To think that he wore that in the past disgusted him. He struck a conversation, which wasn't very like a conversation, more like a demand.

"You. Bowtie. Where's Clara?"

"Doctor? Haven't seen you for long! Is Atif sick again?" Adrian gave a bright smile that dwindled as the Doctor came too close for comfort. 'Personal space, Doctor,' Clara's voice reminded him. The Doctor stepped a millimetre away, obeying his inner Clara.

"I really don't have time for a chit chat. Where's Clara?"

"Clara?" Adrian held up his folder. "I'm substituting her class," he gave an awkward laugh. It was that sort of a laugh that said he didn't really want to be here with a creepy old Scottish-sounding man.

"What?" He took the folder away. He quickly flicked through the pages inside. Stereotypical literacy things. Yawn. "Why?"

"Clara told me that she was going away. She took a leave of absence."

"Why?" His eyes narrowed, almost giving Adrian a look of suspicion. "Did you take over her job?"

"What? No! She said she needed some time off. She wanted to travel, or something. I don't know." He shrugged.

The Doctor stood there still with the folder in his hands.

"Anyway, I better head off. The lesson started 5 minutes ago." Adrian retrieved the folder from the Doctor's hands. He looked very uncomfortable with the Doctor's stare.

"Don't you mean Clara's students?" He yelled as Adrian headed off.

.

The Doctor returned to the TARDIS. Anxiousness was starting to creep in. Why would Clara take a leave of absence without him knowing? Where could she go that was… let's face it, better than space and time travel?

He exhaled and ruffled his curly hair. That was okay. Desperate times called for desperate measures. The Doctor had placed a tracker on Clara's phone. He never used it, but it was there just in case. Of course Clara didn't know about it. She would go on again about 'personal space and privacy'.

The phone tracked Clara down to somewhere very unexplainable. He recalibrated the tracker, and activated it again. It was still in the same place. The Doctor's eyebrows raised in confusion.

What was Clara doing in the Rub' al Khali desert in Saudi Arabia?

.

The Doctor materialised in Rub' al Khali. As known as the desert of empty quarters.

The first thing that hit him as he opened the TARDIS doors was the wind containing millions of sand particles. Great, that was going cost him a few hours fixing the TARDIS couplings later.

The hot wind was so strong that he couldn't even open his eyes properly. He slid his sunglasses on and started tracking for Clara's mobile phone. He was sure that it was a technological blip, but he wanted to check, just in case.

He learnt that climbing sand dunes were much harder than he thought, despite his athletic capabilities from running away for almost 2000 years. As he reached the tip of the sand dune, the unstable ground gave way, and the Doctor tumbled down to… an ?

He could see that it was serving as a military base. As he walked towards them, he realised it wasn't any old military forces, it was UNIT.

He spotted Clara's white phone on top of a military box. He was sure that was Clara's phone, given from the tiny dent mark in the corner from one of their adventures. The Doctor was meaning to fix it, but hadn't had time to.

The Doctor picked it up, bringing his guards down. He heard a gun cocking.

"State your name, rank and intention."

The Doctor turned around. "Really?" He wasn't in the mood. "What happened to my friend?" He held up the phone.

The soldier lowered his gun in realisation. "O-oh no. It's you." He gave a salute.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes it's me. Now, I'm going to ask again. What happened to Clara?"

"I-I'm sorry." He said. "I-"

"Doctor?" It was Kate. Her eyes were red, presumably from crying. "Doctor, I don't want you to be angry, but I'm so sorry."

"What happened to Clara?" The Doctor's voice lowered. His eyes looked directly at Kate's, but she looked away, almost in shame.

"We were too late." Kate teared up. "Clara… She's gone."

.

The Doctor met Kate in UNIT's makeshift tent.

"You're going to explain right now." His voice was unsettlingly calm. "What happened?"

After a long pause, Kate finally spoke. "We were investigating weird signs that appeared around the world. It was like crop circles, but these were different. They always came up in unpopulated areas, and they inevitably exploded. Every time there was the sign, explosions followed. We asked Clara for some advice a long while back. As we dug deeper into this, we started receiving threats. Pictures of us and our families with the sign on the back. We decided to abandon the mission, for our safety."

"But Clara did." Of course. Why wouldn't she? "What did the signs look like?"

Kate showed it to him. He frowned. He had no idea what these meant, but the repetitive circular patterns showed a resemblance to Gallifreyan.

"This was the last message we received from her." She played a voice file on her phone.

The Doctor heard guns firing.

"Kate. I've been investigating those crop circles you sent me. I found the source in Saudi Arabia. I'm sending you the co-ordinates now. We desperately need some help." Suddenly there was a small scream. "I think they found us."

The Doctor flinched as he heard a thud.

Clara was panting in pain. He knew that Clara was shot as well. "Tell the Doctor I'm sorry." It was almost a whisper.

The Doctor stopped the recording. "Clara said 'I think they found us'. Who was with her?" The Doctor's dark gaze shifted as he asked the question. He was asking himself to wake up from this nightmare. He couldn't believe that this was happening.

"We don't know. The only thing we found here were these bullet shells. We couldn't find any trace of her. Even if she survived that bullet wound, she's probably gone."

The Doctor studied them and gave an empty laugh.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Kate stared at him in confusion. The laugh wasn't a happy one, it was almost exasperated.

Clara's not dead." The Doctor sighed. "These are tranquiliser bullets. Often used to kidnap people."

Suddenly, he realised what had happened. He frustratingly banged his fist on the desk.

"They took her because they knew she was with me. It was a trap for Clara and you fell right into it."

* * *

Doctor opened his eyes. He looked at the small sign he had been carrying around. Two years of trying to find her, trying to decipher what that sign meant. It was gibberish in an illiterate man's Gallifreyan. Someone, or something, was trying to mimic the ancient Time Lord language, without knowing how the language worked. That was probably the reason why Clara was interested in it, despite the dangers.

The Doctor jumped from the bench as he saw Clara's phone ringing. He had forgotten he was holding it in his hands.'Kate Stewart' the caller information showed. Usually, he rejected any calls for Clara, but he knew this wasn't for Clara. Kate knew he had the phone. The call was for him.

The Doctor slowly placed the phone on his ear. "Hello, Doctor speaking."

He dropped the phone and the phone's screen broke with a crunch. He gently picked it up again, checking that Kate was still on the line.

"On my way."


	4. Escape

"How is she?" The Doctor almost sprinted up to Kate, who was fixated to a screen.

Kate slowly turned around to face the Doctor. She had 'the look' the Doctor dreaded to see on her face. She quietly moved away from the screen, showing Clara inside what seemed like a normal bedroom. The Doctor slowly placed his hand on the screen. It seemed like the two years that had passed without her was like spending an eternity alone. He wanted to go see her in real life. He _needed_ to know she was okay.

Clara seemed peaceful enough, but something about her seemed off. It was in the way she moved, she blinked, how she acted in that environment. It was as if he was looking at someone different.

Kate studied the Doctor as he slowly exhaled. It was unsettling seeing the Doctor with a hardened face. She was shocked to see the Doctor so calm, so composed, compared to his bout of rage shortly after Clara's disappearance.

The Doctor gazed at a clock nearby. "Has she had breakfast yet?" He asked a UNIT staff nearby. As he was about to speak, the Doctor stopped him. "Don't worry about it, I'll cook."

"Wait, Doctor." Kate had to tell him. She didn't know how to break it to him.

The Doctor turned around. "I know, Kate. She won't remember me. Short term memory loss. If you want to keep something from me, perhaps don't leave the information lying around." His mouth set in a hard line as he pointed at the open file in front of Kate.

That was when Kate realised that the Time Lord's anger was still present. He was just trying not to show it, for her sake.

.

The Doctor's anger simmered inside to find Clara locked up in a UNIT facility, no matter how well she was being treated. He was even more angry that he wasn't told about Clara's rescue, and her condition until a day later. He didn't care what UNIT wanted to do, he was getting her out of that place. He was answerable to no one. All he cared about was providing comfort and care for his best friend. After all, he had a duty of care.

He cooked the best pancakes he could, reminiscing the time he accidentally helped with popularising it in the French courts in the late 1800s.

"Doctor, don't you think you're overdoing it?" his inner Clara voice asked himself. The Doctor firmly shook his head and replied to himself. "No. You've been away for far too long. It's time you had a proper welcome home meal."

.

The Doctor saw Clara's chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. Panic rose inside him. He racked his brain for the cause, but the only thing that nagged him was that he was going to lose his friend. Again.

"Clara!"

He threw away the plate of breakfast he had made. That wasn't important. The doctor firmly grabbed Clara, in a valiant effort to calm her down.

"Clara, snap out of it!"

He saw her eyes flickering open. For a second, the Doctor was sure her eyes flashed with recognition.

'Clara likes hugs,' his inner voice reminded him. He quickly broke into a hug. He held her tightly. He didn't want to lose his best friend ever again.

An eerie silence fell inside the room. The Doctor felt Clara going stiff inside his hug. The flicker of hope was extinguished as he studied her eyes again for any sign of recognition.

"You dropped my breakfast." Clara finally broke the silence.

The Doctor broke out in laughter. He stopped abruptly when he realised Clara was looking at him in confusion.

"I-I'm sorry." He awkwardly stepped back. "For the… contact… and weirdness."

"The hug was nice." Clara gave a half shrug. "I think I like hugs."

The Doctor smiled at her sweet answer. "Do you know who I am?" The Doctor softly asked, hoping to hear a 'yes'.

"You're the Doctor." Clara's eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "But how do I know that?"

The Doctor gave a half-smile. It was good to know that she still somewhat remembered who he was. He stared at her for a long time. He could not believe that he finally had her back.

"You and I were friends. I hope we're still friends." The Doctor explained with a twitch of a smile.

"Everyone keeps saying that." Clara pouted. "If we were friends, why can't I remember it?"

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Clara's stomach growl.

"Right. Breakfast. Luckily, I still have some batter left over. I'll be back before you can say 'where's my breakfast?'. The Doctor gave a goofy smile before he headed out.

Clara heard the door close. The Doctor seemed like a nice person, but even she could see the sadness beyond his old, old eyes. She didn't know why, but she missed his presence after he left, even though she didn't remember anything about him. She realised she didn't like being alone. She wanted someone to be with her. Someone like the Doctor.

"Where's my breakfast?" Clara softly whispered with a sad smile. She felt an overwhelming sadness engulf her, but she couldn't understand why it was happening.

When she was done crying, she looked around the room. Everything seemed normal, but she knew she was a prisoner there. All the doors were open except one that the Doctor used minutes ago. Clara cautiously walked up to the door and ran her finger along the frame. Her heart started beating faster as she opened a small control panel near the door.

Clara didn't know what she was doing, but at the same time, it was almost like her instinct. She pulled out the wires and manipulated them until it gave a small spark. Her smiles brightened as the door clicked open. Clara pushed through the door into the real world, like a canary escaping its cage.

.

The Doctor rushed to make another batch of pancakes, this time, the quality was less than his previous one, but he had to compensate. He wanted to return to his Clara as soon as possible.

Just as he was about to head off with the plate, Osgood bumped into him and once again, the plate shattered on the ground.

"Osgood!" He said in mild annoyance.

"Doctor! I'm so sorry!" She helped to pick up the shards of the broken plate. As Osgood brushed past him, the Doctor felt a small tug in his pocket.

Osgood had a forced smile on her face. Something was wrong.

"I must dash, but it was so good to see you again." Osgood walked away briskly before the Doctor could say anything.

.

The Doctor walked to UNIT's busy cafeteria and sat down in a corner with a mug of tea. He'd been there so many times that he had calculated exactly what area becomes a dead zone for any overhearing, nosy pudding brain agents. He knew the best way to avoid stares and suspicion was to stay in a busy place just underneath their noses.

He straightened a crumpled paper that was placed inside his pocket.

'WE NEED TO TALK' the paper said, in rushed writing. Underneath, there was a phone number. The Doctor pulled out Clara's phone with a cracked screen. He made a mental note to fix it later.

The Doctor adjusted the frequency on his sonic and placed it on the back of the phone. He knew that UNIT always tried their best to overhear conversation, and the Doctor was always cautious to block such things. Didn't they know anything about personal space and privacy?

"Hello? Railroad constructions. Dan speaking."

"Hello?" The Doctor was taken back by the male voice that had answered the phone. "Who's this?"

"This is Dan. Who am I speaking to?" There was a murmur in the background.

"I… I think I have the wrong number." The Doctor was about the hang up the call, when 'Dan' started speaking again.

"Wait, are you one of Patronella's oddballs?" 'Oddballs' he mouthed with slight annoyance. He cleared his throat.

"Yes. Yes, I am. I think." He was definitely not an oddball. Actually, he agreed a bit. By a bit, a lot.

"Right. Come to Brunswick station. You're supposed to meet her or something. Oh, by the way, she wanted to tell you whoever you were looking for is already gone. Claire or something."

"Clara." He corrected him. Wait, Clara was gone?

"Whatever." The man said with indifference. The Doctor was met with a hanging up tone.

Osgood was right. When he returned to Clara's quarters, he saw soldiers lingering around the door. He quickly hid in a janitor's cabinet as soldiers went past.

"Can't believe we are supposed to capture the Doctor." He overheard a conversation.

"Shut up. He might be able to hear us. Remember what they said in our training?" The other pudding brain whispered.

He heard a scoff. "It's as if they treat him like a god in this place or something. I saw him once. He wasn't anything special. The girl looks pretty great though. No wonder he takes her out for travels."

The Doctor clenched his fist in rage. He let out a harsh breath in anger, but kept quiet. It wasn't worth getting caught for. His priority was to find Clara and talk to Osgood.

"Shame the girl escaped. She's quite the looker." The laugh disappeared into the distance.

The Doctor exhaled. It meant that Clara was safe. He assumed that she was with Osgood.

It was too risky to be walking around corridors. The Doctor looked around the small janitor's closet, and discovered a ventilation shaft. 'Bingo'. He silently congratulated himself for the discovery, and hopped into it.

While he was crawling through the shaft, he heard a whimper from one of the rooms.

"Please, I'll do whatever you want." The Doctor saw a UNIT general begging for mercy on his knees.

"But you are doing what I want." There was a muffled scream.

"We're only here to take what is ours. Familiar agents thank you for your service."

The Doctor glanced at the man whose face has been cut away. He grimaced as he moved on. He realised whoever trying to find him wasn't UNIT.

He also went past the parked TARDIS. It was being guarded by more soldiers than he could count. He knew it wasn't wise to retrieve his spaceship at this current moment.

After crawling around the stuffy ventilation shaft for hours, he finally felt a cool breeze. He heard a faint sound of the chugging of a train. He remembered Brunswick station, where he was to meet Osgood. That was probably why she chose the place – because it was connected to the headquarters via the ducts.

He stopped as he reached the end of the ventilation shaft. He peered over the edge, realising the only way out was down. He could smell the dust and burnt diesel. There were soft whirring and the sound of distant train horns. Could be train horns – could be a car horn. It could be heading down to the station where he is greeted by Osgood, or, it could lead down to the UNIT car-park, where he will be captured in minutes. He closed his eyes calculating the risks. He was sure that this was the only way to find Osgood, find Clara, and resolve whatever was happening with UNIT. He didn't know what was down there, and he didn't like not knowing. But for Clara's sake, he had to do it.

What's the worst that could happen? Regeneration. Wait, that was bad.

He found himself falling.

It didn't seem like it was going to end.

He grabbed onto Clara's phone tightly.

.

He landed with a thud.

The uneven ground dug into his back. He groaned in pain. He staggered up and leaned on the closest wall to gather his senses. He traced around his ribs and felt for any damages.

"Ribs 3-5 broken, small fracture on my right femur, otherwise. No concussions, possible bruises around my torso and wrist… but I'm good. I'm good." He informed himself breathlessly as he assessed for any damage. He let out a small laugh and flinched in pain, not because it was funny, but because what he did was incredibly stupid.

He looked up to see where he fell from. He estimated he fell around 100 ft.

He heard the horn again, clearer and closer than when he heard it from the vents. He started assessing his environment. His smile faded.

The good news was; he wasn't in UNIT's car park. And there was a very low chance that he'll be caught there.

The bad news was; he had landed in the middle of a train track with nowhere to take cover.

And there was a train coming.


	5. Remember

"Hey. Where do you think you're going?" A menacing voice boomed in front of Clara.

Clara's eyes slowly fell on the gun the guard was holding. Something told her that those guns weren't only for display. She looked up to see a tall, muscular woman with short, rough brown hair. Clara's legs started trembling automatically.

"I… uh… I'm…" Clara quickly looked around, biting her lip. Inside one of the control boxes for the boom gates, she saw a few guards clustered around a small television set, wearing different coloured scarves, watching what she assumed was football.

"I'm supposed to go to the football game with my boyfriend. I'm very late, so if you could let me pass, it would be greatly appreciated." Clara said with a surprisingly straight face, even though her heart was telling her otherwise.

The guard's dark brown eyes narrowed in suspicion. She leaned closer to Clara, and Clara did her best not to look frightened. "Right."

The woman inspected her clothing closely. Clara didn't break eye contact, hoping to look more confident and menacing. It didn't help when you were 5ft 2.

"Well, where's your sign off badge?" The woman circled around her, like a predator circling a prey.

Clara was sweating in nervousness. She reached into her pocket. Of course there was nothing there. She looked at her in panic. She didn't know what to say. She tried her best to even out her breathing and control her wild hear beats.

The guard burst out in laughter. "No worries mate. You're not the first one today. Go. Enjoy the match with your boyfriend. It's a big'un today. Semi-finals, match of the year, apparently. Wish I could be there."

Clara awkwardly laughed with her. "Haha. Yeah, great. I will. Thanks for that."

"By the way, what team are you rootin' for?" the guard asked nonchalantly as the boom gates rose up.

Clara stopped dead in looked at the colours of the scarves. It didn't help that she lost her memories of her past (She was even surprised at herself for remembering what football was to recognise the sport).

Clara squinted at the TV. The small writing was too small to read. On one of the guards huddled around the telly, she saw scarves draped around with team names.

"Uh… um…. Liverpool United." She said confidently and gave a grin.

The guard looked at her in confusion. Clara's grin was wiped off her face. Panic rose again, and she prepared herself for a sprint.

Then, the guards cracked up in laughter. "Hey Chels, I think she's like your girlfriend. The clueless one who goes to football matches without knowing anythin' about football."

Clara walked away as they started laughing. She did not want to linger around them for long.

A black van went past Clara towards the boom gate. As she continued walking away, she saw men dressed in suits getting off the black van, facing the light hearted guards.

Suddenly, she remembered the wreckage where she was roaming around. They were the ones who wanted to capture her. Clara increased her pace, glancing every so often. She saw a blinding blue light, and a bloodcurdling scream. Clara tripped and fell on the asphalt. She looked at her grazed knee, shivering.

* * *

 _Clara walked past what seemed like a quiet neighbourhood surrounding a lake. Everything was so quiet. She looked at her reflection in the calm water. Dressed in a black suit and sunglasses with a blue gun inside her gun holster. She reached a purple house with a white fence. She walked in and knocked the door._

 _A little girl answered the door and looked at her in curiosity._

 _"Hi, little girl. May I speak to your parents?" Clara crouched down to speak to her in her eye level._

 _The little girl disappeared into the house, and Clara walked into the house._

 _"Hey, you can't just come in!" She shot him square on the face. He fell screaming, and the little girl started crying. The mother came out. Clara hesitated, seeing her stomach inflated like a balloon. She was pregnant. Clara wasn't told that she was pregnant._

 _She bit her lip, closed her eyes shut and shot her on the face too._

 _The girl didn't move. She was too overwhelmed and scared to move._

 _"Please." She looked at Clara begging for mercy._

 _Clara hugged her, covering her eyes._

 _"Shh, it'll be okay. It's going to be fine." She placed the gun on the little girl's head and squeezed the trigger._

* * *

She panted as she was brought back to reality. She had to forget.

She had to forget that she was a monster.

She heard a bullet whistling by her ear. She turned around to see a suited man chasing her.

.

 _Rule 1 for survival. Use your environment._

Clara faintly remembered someone telling her. She looked around to see pine trees. She climbed one with no difficulty, as if she had done that before.

.

 _Rule 2. Know your enemy._

She waited until he was close. She observed him. He had a slight limp. Which meant… he was going to have trouble going through roots in the forest floor. She went deeper into the forest.

"I don't want to hurt you!" He had a heavy American accent.

Clara scoffed. Why was he shooting bullets then? As she dodged more bullets, she saw one land right into a tree adjacent to her. This person was good. He was good at shooting, but not as good as her dodging. When she pulled the bullet out, she realised that wasn't a gun. It was a dart. A dart with something inside.

.

 _Rule 3. Wait for the best time to strike._

She waited until he was directly underneath her. Like she had guessed, he was having trouble running through the forest floor, and had to stop to have a rest. Clara quietly hovered on the tree above him, and dropped the dart.

It landed on his shoulder, and he collapsed convulsing. Clara quickly jumped out of the tree and inspected him.

"Y-you are really alive." He managed to choke it out. "I'm not human. I can't.. I can't…" He gasped and closed his eyes.

Clara stood there in horror as it dawned on her. She'd just killed someone.

She looked at the gun.

Perhaps it was a good idea. She was a monster. Monsters like her needed to be stopped.

She aimed it at her head.

.

"Clara! No!" It was Osgood running to her from a distance.

.

She had to be stopped before she hurt or killed anyone else.

.

She squeezed the trigger and everything plunged into darkness.


	6. Getting there

_The good news was; he wasn't in UNIT's car park. And there was a very low chance that he'll be caught there._

 _The bad news was; he had landed in the middle of a train track with nowhere to take cover._

 _And there was a train coming._

His brain was going at million miles a minute.

He couldn't run.

He broke three ribs and fractured his weight-bearing leg.

He couldn't dodge.

The tunnel was way too narrow.

He panted in rising panic. There was no way out.

 _No way out, but under_.

He looked down at himself. He was hopefully skinny enough for the train to fit through the space between the rail and the wheels.

Or else, he was going to be jam spread along the rails.

He laid face down on the ground with some difficulty. He shut his eyes as he felt a thunderous sound and a gush of wind.

The train was gone. He was alive. All was well.

He scanned the tunnels with the sonic. His face fell.

Well, _most of it_ was well. Except for the fact that the next train station was around 10km off of where he was standing.

He took a step with a hardened face. It was either he walked the distance, or wait until another train spread him around the rails like jam.

Osgood was going to get some sour words when he met her for a chat.

…..

Unfamiliar face popped into Clara's sight.

"Finally." The woman with big glasses were smiling at her.

Clara grabbed onto her head in pain.

"You know, for an intelligent person like you, that was not a smart thing to do." The person handed a cup of water with a straw. Clara had a sip and settled back on a not very comfortable bed.

Where was she? Who was she?

She felt a bandage around her head. What happened to her?

"I'm not happy with you. Why would you do that? Why would you want to leave all this behind?"

Clara listened with a chaotic mind. What was happening? Why was she saying such things?

"Your name is Clara." Osgood gently sat her up. Clara closed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to stop the ringing in her head. "My name is Osgood. We're friends. I had a twin, she died. I had another. I think she died too. They were all friends with you too. Good friends." Osgood sighed. "I'm the only one left." Clara knew that the last sentence was a realisation directed at Osgood herself, not Clara.

Clara heard a faint sound of a train. She looked outside a window to see a forest. She was in a wooden hut, with the fire going in a small fireplace.

"We're just waiting for the truck. Kate's supposed to come here with the Doctor." Osgood leaned on the bed, looking bored. "We need to tell you what's been happening."

Clara looked at Osgood in confusion.

"Don't worry if you don't remember anything. My twin did tell me that you might have some short term memory loss." Osgood sighed.

Clara whimpered at the oncoming set of headaches. Osgood handed a pill and gave a small regretful smile.

"I'm sorry I can't give you anything stronger. Once Kate and the Doctor arrives. We'll get you to a hospital. Well… Not a hospital because they'll spot us. But I know a friend who can help."

Osgood heard the truck nearby.

"Yes, there we go. A truck." She looked out the window. "And the good kind. Not the bad ones. Double yes." She coughed a bit and then used the inhaler.

Kate talked to Osgood with a concerned look on her face. It seemed like Kate couldn't rescue the person called the 'Doctor'.

Clara fell asleep again after giving up listening to them. Staying awake was hard work.

….

Doctor cursed under his breath.

Due to the Time Lord's ability to heal fast, the rib has already set in a wrong place. It wasn't enough to hinder him, but it was going to bother him for the rest of this regeneration. But he wasn't going to break his ribs again. That required too much effort, just like recolouring his kidneys. Sometimes a man had to live with difficulties for the sake of simplicity.

After what seemed like forever, he was finally out of the tunnel into a manmade forest. He didn't like forests like these – the trees were too straight and it looked too organised. But it beat being in a tunnel. He stopped momentarily to breathe fresh tree air, not stale tunnel air. He heard birds and insects, which was better than train horns and building anxiousness. He squinted his eyes to see a hut nearby with smoke pouring out. Someone was in there, and he hoped that it was someone friendly. Not face-ripping sadistic barbarians he saw in UNIT. Pudding brains over barbarians any day.

…

He didn't even knock the door. He burst in and sat on the nearest chair.

The two inhabitants in there was silent for a moment, processing what had just happened.

"Doctor?" It was Kate and Osgood.

"I'm really cross with you, Patronella Osgood." The Doctor crossed his arms with his attack eyebrows, but secretly, he was glad to see them again.

The Doctor turned around to see his best friend sleeping in the bed. She had a blood soaked bandage around her head and was clearly in some degrees of pain.

"You owe me an explanation. Start from the start." The Doctor said crossly.


	7. Osgood to Osgood

Osgood never wanted to eavesdrop on anyone. She liked her job as a scientific researcher, and the best way to keep it was to be disinterested in areas she wasn't involved. But this was about her twin. It was about family. So she had the right.

She was going past Kate's office, when she heard the conversation between Kate and the General.

"You cannot just dump this on Osgood. Everyone has pulled out. They should too." Kate sounded very frustrated.

"Clara trusts her. She'll be fine. She's done this before. They are so close to solving this." Osgood heard a dismissive tone from the General.

"I'm telling you to drop this mission all together. It was a mistake getting Clara involved in this in the first place. Now you're getting one of the best researchers in UNIT to encourage our most precious advisor to do something dangerous bordering suicidal."

Osgood knew they were talking about her twin because she was never aware of this in the first place. The other Osgood has mentioned that she had been working with Clara.

.

It was midnight and Osgood was half-asleep. Her twin had been on a 'top-secret mission' with Clara. Osgood was somewhat jealous, but she knew that it was her turn to have the fun after her trip/mission involving weevils in Madrid. Her twin started calling Osgood.

"Jesus, Osgood. It's 12am." Her voice sounded croaky, waking up from an odd dream involving asthmatic monkeys and the three Osgoods on a safari trip.

"Hey." Osgood on the other line sounded like she'd been running. "I just want to tell you that you're amazing."

"At 12am?" Then, Osgood realised what she was doing. "You're saying goodbyes." Suddenly, Osgood wasn't sleepy anymore. "Where are you?"

"Please, you have to be happy, okay? I don't want you to be hung up about any of this." Her voice was shaky, as if something traumatic had happened.

"Where are you?" Osgood burst out of her apartment. "I'm going there now."

"It's too late." All she could hear was her strained breaths.

Osgood ran for hours. She called Kate. Kate didn't receive her calls.

She ran straight to Kate's house. She slammed her fists on the door, struggling to breathe.

Judging by the silence, she knew Kate wasn't there.

She took a puff of her inhaler and threw a brick into the house's window. She apologised profusely as she searched Kate's location through the computer. It was illegal and considered treason, but she didn't care. This was an emergency.

Empty Quarters.

Osgood couldn't breathe properly. The hopes of finding and helping her twin sister disappeared. Her stomach was in knots. She was drowning in air. They were in Saudi Arabia, and she had no idea until now. Everything was kept secret from her. Even Kate didn't mention anything to her. Osgood had just lost her twin sister miles away from home.

No matter how much respect and trust she had lost for UNIT and Kate, Osgood had no choice but to work for them. That was the only way she could dig up any information or trails to the whereabouts of her twin sister. Everywhere she went, every call she took, she expected her twin to be on the other line. Osgood knew that her twin was gone, and there was little to no chance that she was returning. But she denied it. She still had hope for the other Osgood's safety. UNIT still allowed her to work even after finding out she had hacked into Kate's system. Except, she was not allowed to view any information about it. She was 'emotionally unstable' for any missions, and was demoted to being a research assistant.

Kate occasionally snuck information to her sympathetically, but even that information plateaued after a while. Osgood was hanging on by a string with her work when she came across a message. Not just any message, but message from beyond Earth's technology. It was some sort of a blue disc, delivered right to her doorstep.

When she held the disc, a holographic image of her twin sister popped out.

"Right, is this working?" The hologram flickered. Osgood jumped on the spot. After all this time, she knew Osgood was alive. She smiled sorrowfully at the sheer technology and her twin sister standing in front of her, talking, as if she was really in front of her.

"If this disc has been delivered to the right address, it means that either Clara or I was successful in breaking away from our memory control. It also means that we're one step closer to coming home. First of all, hello. I am so sorry for not being able to say a proper goodbye. A lot of things have happened since then, and I don't want you to worry about us. We're both safe, to a degree, and we'll be back home before you know it. Now, this is where it gets confusing…"

.

"Osgood, why didn't you tell us about this?!" Kate interrupted Osgood's story, annoyed that she had kept this information from her.

"I'm sorry. The less everyone knew, the better it was." Osgood replied and continued.

.

"… We will return to you in the near future. There will be a massive energy spike – something you really won't be able to miss. Lots of people will die, even though we are trying our best to minimise the casualty. I'm sorry about that. It's beyond our power to stop it. Clara and I will have no memory of who you are, and who we are. There's the information of the frequency inside this disc I want you to investigate. That frequency is what we'll be emitting. This is 41st century technology, so I really need you to keep the information to yourself. We don't want to be ripping a hole in the universe. The Doctor does that often enough."

.

The Doctor pouted. "No I don't." Both Kate and Osgood looked at him. He crossed his arms and scoffed.

.

"When you find us, you might find that we're confused and scared and perhaps… a bit violent. I apologise in advance. We won't be the only ones returning – there will be people coming to look for us. We'll be very useless because we'll probably be suffering from short term memory loss, and the only thing that can fix that is time… The Doctor should be able to help, I'm sure, if you can convince him. Once our memories are back, we'll let you know what to do next. The problem we're facing is bigger than just this." There was a frizz of the hologram.

"I better go. I have to say, staying away from the planet makes you miss a lot of the small stuff. Like pizza, birds chirping, and listening to you. On the bright side, when I come back, I'll have hell of a better story than your Madrid mission." The hologram Osgood looked on the ground in sadness. "I miss you. I'm sorry I can't be there in person. I'll see you soon, okay?" There was a tiny glint of tear in hologram Osgood's eyes.

The hologram turned off, and Osgood stood there, wanting to hear her sister's voice one more time.

Osgood tried desperately to hear her voice again, but nothing happened. Like her twin sister said, there was almost undecipherable overload of information about some sort of a frequency resonator.

.

Osgood handed the small device to the Doctor.

"Remarkable technology. I would never have guessed that a pudding brain would have devised such machinery. Great job Osgood."

"Well, I have had help on the way." Osgood blushed, and wheezed.

"Breathe." Kate reminded her. She embarrassingly used the inhaler. There was no glamour in being an asthmatic science nerd.

"So, Osgood told you to tell me to fix the problem?" The Doctor looked at Clara, who was still asleep.

"Yes, I guess so. But what does she mean by time?"

"Time Lord maybe? Maybe we have to wait it out?" Kate suggested.

"Before I do anything, you have to tell me what happened to Clara. I'm sure she didn't have that when I saw her before." The Doctor pointed at the bloodied bandage around Clara's head.

"She…" Osgood licked her dry lips. "She shot herself. With this." Osgood handed the Doctor a gun.

"Well, that's fancy." He twirled it around his finger before putting it in his imaginary holster and putting on an imaginary hat. "This isn't a gun. More like a dart shooter. It's a tranquiliser shooter. Remember the bullets Kate? This is a variation of it."

"They don't want to kill her." Kate said. "They want to take her back."

"I mean; didn't she survive a blast? No wonder they want to take her back." The Doctor said, emptily watching Clara silently suffering. "This happens when you train a time agent using people out of time." He sighed.

"What do you mean?" Osgood looked taken back. "Time agent? Like Captain Jack Harkness?"

"Well done. You've done your homework." The Doctor sat on the bed, carefully avoiding Clara.

Osgood showed a brief smug look from the Doctor's praise. Then the smug disappeared.

"What Clara's suffering from is Acute Time Sickness. I don't know the extent of it, but that's what I'm guessing anyway. She shot herself because she remembered her time there."

Osgood stared in horror. "What could be so bad that she'd want to end her life?"

"You see, thinking of the time there make you light up. They can find you. Clara was probably hoping to lose them. I mean she's Clara Oswald. She wouldn't give in to anything the Time agents forced her to do, even if they tried. She wouldn't have let them make her suffer."

"Another question is, where is my sister?" Osgood asked in sadness.

"I don't know. Let's find out." The Doctor closed his eyes and gently placed his hands on Clara's temple.


End file.
